Trustworthiness is relational, not a general trait of the trusted.

Evidence

In the encapsulated-interest account, it is the reason for the expectations that defines trust. If I expect you to fulfill my trust because I think you encapsulate my interests to some extent in your own, then I can be said to trust you. If I expect you to fulfill my trust because you would act in the relevant way even if I were not in the picture, then I have expectations but not trust as encapsulated interest. Often, as in mutual trust in an ongoing exchange relationship, the encapsulated interest is simply the interest the trusted has to continue the relationship, because that relationship is valuable to the trusted. Hence the trusted’s trustworthiness is not a general characteristic of the trusted but is specifically related to the truster. It is relational, often perhaps even wholly relational. — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 428

Categorization

• DEFINE: This is the precise definition of encapsulated-interest trust that distinguishes trust (expectation because my interests are folded into yours) from mere expectation (you’d act the same regardless).
• XREF: Directly feeds the reader’s analytical project: the doctor’s wife in Saramago is trusted because her interests are entangled with the blind group, not because she is a generally trustworthy person. — connects to: Oprah’s celebrity endorsements moved products through conditioned trust, not raw reach. — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 797